October 7th, 2004

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The Arts
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TV Shows on DVD

Confession time: I own seasons #1-6 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer on DVD. Those DVDs comprise the majority of my meagre DVD collection (the rest of which is mostly concert films). I’m not a big buyer of movies, but I do occasionally purchase DVDs that I suspect I’ll never be able to rent. Of course, that’s all changing in the next few years, but it’s the state of play today. Case in point: I’m currently re-reading the incredible The Name of the Rose. Once finished, will I be able to rent the moviestarring Sean Connery and Christian Slater at my local video store? Probably not.

But I digress. In this week’s Georgia Straight, Dave Watson (whose column I covet, and whose column needs a new title–’Dot Comment’ is so 20th century) writes about the growing trend of buying television shows on DVD:

So, the consumer is really beginning to drive the marketplace. Three recent examples come to mind. The strong DVD sales of the cancelled series ‘Family Guy’ have prompted new episodes and a feature film to be commissioned. After more than 40,000 people signed an on-line petition promising to buy ‘Freaks and Geeks’ if it were made available, it came out earlier this year.

I’m definitely not a loyal TV viewer. I miss weeks (sometimes years) of shows that I’ve acutally professed an affection for. I could see myself buying shows that I’ve liked and missed, such as Dead Like Me or The West Wing. The Buffy DVDs have been a boon on plane trips, certainly.

Watson also references TVShowsonDVD.com, which seems kind of broken at the moment.

Comments: 7 Responses so far

Bill Stilwell
October 7th, 2004
4:20 pm

This site is good for current/upcoming releases.

The thing I find weird about TV dvds is the wildly divergent pricing - Angel and Buffy were $50-$60 per season, six feet under around $90 (for half the episodes), homicide $100, star trek $120, farscape $160.

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Norlinda
October 7th, 2004
5:32 pm

I covet your Buffy DVDs. I would be inclined to buy my own but deterred by the lack of audio commentary from the cast and Josh. That’s pretty much the only reason why I buy DVDs in general.

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adrock2xander
October 7th, 2004
10:04 pm

Blogworthy…another reason why people should watch Buffy…coz if Darren’s watchin it…there’s no reason why lesser people (read: Emmy Awards voters) shouldnt…

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daryl
October 8th, 2004
12:23 am

yeah, amen brova. i have all tha hbo hottness: six feet under, sex & the city, sopranos, curb your enthusiasm. i pretty much stopped watching tv altogether now that the shows are out.

24, the office, chapelle’s show… good times. but the real question: when the hell are they going to release macgyver? some say best ever.

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bree
October 8th, 2004
9:18 am

I love my TV on DVD! I also have Buffy 1-6, Family Guy and Gilmore Girls, and in the breakup the boyfriend got Firefly (which I’m replacing) and Babylon 5. I enjoy the shows better when I can watch them in what order I want, when I want and without commercials. The Buffy especially was really worth it. I covet Six Feet Under.

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Jen
October 8th, 2004
3:14 pm

Hmm… would we be less freakish about purchasing tv on DVD if we had TiVo readily available in the great white north?

Same concept… watch when you want, block commercials - your only limiting factor with the TiVo box is memory capacity, though I’m not one to watch episodes of a show over again anyway.

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Meghan
October 11th, 2004
4:25 pm

Buffy ROCKS!!

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